


Where Did We Go? What Did We Do?

by AidanChase



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Diamond reyna, F/M, Steven Universe AU, almandine hazel, aquamarine percy, diamond annabeth, frank Hazel fusion, gem au, onyx nico, ruby frank
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 12:24:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6610639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AidanChase/pseuds/AidanChase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>I think we've made something entirely new.</i>
</p><p>Percy's never been much of a gem for following the rules, but he's always been loyal to his diamond, if nothing else. A mission to earth will test his loyalties, threaten his life, and upset everything he knows about what it is to be alive.</p><p>*characters and gems to be added to tags as they appear*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Trust Me. I Do.

**Author's Note:**

> Why am I working on this AU? Why don't I work on my novel, or my Harry Potter fic, or any of my other three percy jackson fics?
> 
> I have no idea, but my brain can't stop turning over all the gemsonas for the Heroes of Olympus gang and doodling them all while I'm at work. There is no getting this fic and this world and this story out of my head, so enjoy.

Annabeth took a seat on her throne and picked up the glass tablet that had been prepared for her. She touched the corner and it lit up with information, all the calculations for the new colony, sent over by her co-leader of the gem world, a purple diamond. The reports on the new colony weren’t especially optimistic, but it wasn’t so much the report on the colony that worried her. 

The white diamond on her forehead gleamed and the report in her hand vanished. Annabeth glanced over the arm of her throne at her guardian gem. He wasn’t much to look at, only an aquamarine, rare and not known for its magical strength. Once he’d been a gift, a decoration, and a bit of an insult. Aquamarines were trusting, and she’d been repeatedly accused of having trust issues.

However, since then, she’d discovered this particular aquamarine to be incredibly powerful, and his loose clothing and relaxed posture as he slouched against the edge of her throne were deceptions that belied the powerful control he had over water. She’d since installed several saltwater fountains in her palace, weapons for her defense disguised as decorations for her throne room. Everything Percy was for her.

He glanced up at her and grinned crookedly. “Bad news? With you it’s always bad news, isn’t it?”

Annabeth said nothing, but stepped off her throne. “Reyna seems to think the agate colony will produce good-sized soldiers for the defense of homeworld.”

“That’s good news.”

“She’s had trouble with insurrection.”

“And there’s the bad news.” Percy followed her as she left the throne room. It was his job to follow her, after all.

When she didn’t offer any more explanation, he pressed her for information. “Insurrection in her ranks? Doesn’t she have some of the most loyal soldiers ever?”

It wasn’t his job to ask questions. It was his job to do as she requested and to defend her with his life. And to look pretty, but he was always good at that. It was the other tasks she’d given him that he constantly questioned. It was staying silent in front of people who outranked him that he struggled with. And she had to admit, over the years, she’d grown to find him endearing. She’d grown to do exactly what she’d been mockingly told she could never do: she’d learned to trust him.

So she answered his question honestly. “Her personal white agate was stolen.”

“Jason? Who would take Jason?” Then Percy laughed. “Who could take Jason?”

“The rebels on Earth took him.”

“That’s what you meant when you said ‘insurrection.’ You meant traitors.”

Annabeth pressed her lips together in a firm line as she opened the door to her personal chamber. “They are still gems. At least one of them is. They simply need to be reformed under more appropriate circumstances.”

Percy sat down in her desk chair. It wasn’t his place, but here, in her private chambers, she’d let him live on equal footing with her. She’d always thought no one knew about her relationship with Percy. But now she was beginning to think that Reyna knew.

“That’s not all your upset about.” He waved his hand and a splash of water from the small fountain beside her bed slapped her in the face. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

By tradition, she should order him to be broken for such disrespect. But she could never do that. She motioned him to sit next to her on the bed. She didn’t need it, but she’d found Percy liked sleep. That was part of how she’d first learned to trust him. Sitting with him while he slept, and learning what it was to relax in someone else’s presence.

Percy joined her. His worry made the greener streaks in his face twist into frowns, even though he wasn’t truly frowning at her. It was always so hard for Percy to disguise his emotions. His feelings were too fluid. She knew he sacrificed a lot to remain stoic and emotionless for her sake when they were in front of others. It made what she had to ask of him all the more terrifying.

She wrapped an arm around him and let her fingers brush against his lower back, his stone, concealed beneath a projection of clothing. Percy shivered at the touch, but leaned into her. As much as she trusted him, she knew he trusted her more. It made her next sentence all the more painful.

“Reyna wants to borrow you.”

“Borrow me? What for? I can’t replace Jason.”

“She’s hand picked two stones. A ruby and almandine to journey to earth and retrieve her agate, as well as ensure the healthy growth of her new colony.”

“Rare to send an almandine into combat. Aren’t they decorative?”

“You’re decorative.”

Percy half-laughed, but even he couldn’t break through the cloud of anxiety she’d thrust over the two of them. “And Reyna wants me to join them?”

“She must know something.” Annabeth stood up and chewed her lip as she paced the room. “She must know about us or about you and your abilities or--”

“Hey, Annabeth.”

She stopped and looked at him.

“I can do it. I’ll behave. She’ll never know, okay? I’ll just go, check up on the colony, rescue Jason, and be home before a full rotation.” Percy got up and met her mid-pace. He held her close and pressed his head to her diamond. “Do you trust me?”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her hands at his back. “You know I do.”

Then they were both drenched in a wave of water. She should’ve been angry but she only laughed and pulled her closer to him.

“Can I ask one favor?” he said into her shoulder.

That was unusual for Percy. 

“What is it?”

“Can we take a nap before I go?”

She smiled. “Okay. A nap. And then I’ll send you to Reyna.” Hand in hand, she and Percy walked back to the bed. She laid down, held him close. She did trust Percy, but something told her Reyna had something else planned. Reyna was intelligent, especially when it came to war tactics. Sending an aquamarine and an almandine into battle was not a good tactical move. She wished she knew what Reyna was planning, and her anxiety over the possibility of losing Percy kept her from relaxing enough to sleep.

So instead she watched Percy sleep and hoped against hope this would not be their last time together. She would have to trust him to be alright.


	2. I Am Something Entirely New.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy, Hazel, and Frank have their first encounter on Earth.

Percy thought this planet strange. He was used to homeworld, made of crystals and glass. Carbon and silicon and iron fused together, with light reflecting in everything and through everything.

But this planet was so… soft. It only reflected partial light. Things had one color and absorbed all other colors. And it was strangely warm. Not in temperature, but it was like a pulse ran through the entire planet and everything in it, a pulse that radiated a different kind of life that Percy had never experienced.

He didn’t know if the two gems with him felt it the way he did. He didn’t want to ask them. He was afraid to be too expressive.

Percy was pretty sure Reyna knew he wasn’t what he was supposed to be. He’d thought Annabeth was being paranoid, but after getting the mission assignment from Reyna, he felt like she was hoping for one of two things: Their mission would fail, or he would fail his duty to Annabeth.

“You’re not the first team I would pick for such a mission,” she’d told them. “An aquamarine and an almandine aren’t fighters, but this should not be a combative mission.” Percy had been sure she was lying. “You are to rescue my agate from the rebel gems. It should be a simple extraction. And make sure the colony is flourishing. Jason was supposed to be watching over it, and I’m worried it may have been harmed by the rebels.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to send someone to just take out the rebels?” the ruby had asked. “I’m not exactly--I mean, you know I don’t work well in a cohort, and--”

“That is why I am not sending you with other rubies to fuse with,” Reyna had said. “The three of you are unique in your own ways.” She’d paused, and Percy knew she hadn’t meant unique as a compliment. “I want you to succeed in your mission without alerting yellow diamond. He would notice if I sent in an elite team, but the three of you will go unnoticed. I would also ask you to not alert white diamond, but I have no desire to compromise your loyalties.”

She’d looked right at Percy when she’d said that, and Percy had known then that Reyna was sure this mission would either break him or break Annabeth’s faith in him. Percy knew which of those two options he would prefer.

As the only crystal made for combat, the ruby--Frank--was leading them. If they ran into trouble, Frank should be able to handle it. And so far, this planet hadn’t yielded any trouble. Their directions, however, came from the almandine, Hazel. She had the unique ability to track crystals, or at least tell where they were. She could sense Jason, as the only agate away from the colony, and she could tell there were at least two gems with him.

Frank and Hazel seemed nice, as far as Percy could tell. And so far, their skills had been well-suited to the task ahead of them: fighting and tracking. Reyna had chosen them well. But his purpose? It was like he was only here to make sure Annabeth was loyal to Reyna.

“This place is weird,” Frank said, as he pulled aside a tree branch so that Hazel and Percy could pass without bumping their heads.

“I feel it too,” Hazel said.

Percy said nothing, knowing that the slightest expression could reveal too many secrets he and Annabeth shared.

His silence, though, seemed to make Hazel and Frank nervous. They looked at him like he was some sort of timed device, waiting for the right moment to explode. Maybe he was.

Frank held out his hand and helped Hazel over a puddle of water. Percy could feel it pull at him and he wanted so badly to feel it. He wanted to know if water on this planet was the same as water on homeworld. But not in front of Frank and Hazel.

Percy got his chance to feel the planet’s water not long after, and just as he feared it would, it ruined him.

As the three of them walked through the undergrowth, water began to fall on top of them. It fell over Percy’s hard light form, and ever drop felt like someone was running an electrical current through his body. It wasn’t truly that much different from homeworld, except that it was so much more water than he’d ever felt before, so much more than what he knew of the universe. It was a wonderful, living feeling, like he was a part of the pulse of the planet.

“Is it coming from the trees?” asked Frank as he squinted into the foliage above them.

Percy looked up too. Though he couldn’t see it, he knew as the water increased in intensity and drenched his face; as strongly as he knew where he was from, he knew where the rain came from. “The sky,” he said, the first words he’d spoken in front of Frank and Hazel.

They stared at him in shock. He regretted speaking instantly. How much was he giving away with the attention he’d just drawn to himself?

“Percy, you’re….” Hazel pointed at him, as if there were no words to describe him.

He didn’t understand. He looked down and saw what she meant. The white, blue, and green stripes that made up his appearance were changing. They often shifted with his mood, changing shape or intensity, and it was always difficult for him to keep them still when he stood at Annabeth’s side. But they weren’t just rippling--they were changing, shifting between blues, yellows, and pinks.

“What’s happening to you?” Frank asked.

Percy held up his hand and watched the colors run in the same paths the water dripped over the curves of his shape, like together they were making him into something new, something he didn’t know. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before.

“Aquamarine is a kind of beryl,” Hazel said, voice still timid. “You must be reacting to the elements of a new planet.”

Percy didn’t know what that meant, but Hazel knew her stones, so maybe there was something to it.

“Does it hurt?” Frank asked.

“No.” Percy frowned and he felt his colors ripple, a reaction to his change in emotions. He tried to stabilize his feelings, but with every drop of water he felt like he was coming undone in the best of ways. It was a hard feeling to resist. But he thought of Annabeth, and how much she risked for him. He thought of her and he stilled. Hazel gasped, and Percy looked down at his hand. It was back to its usual blue stripes, perfectly still, like water untouched, smooth as glass.

“It was very beautiful,” Hazel said quietly. 

“We should keep moving,” he said. “We need to find Jason and go home.”

The words were barely out of his mouth before something charged at them through the underbrush.

Percy didn’t know what it was, but from the sound of it, it was big. He grabbed Hazel and Frank and pulled them out of its path. 

A big black and white creature, unlike anything they’d seen so far on this planet charged past them. He expected it to keep on going, but it seemed to sense them. It stopped and turned.

It was at least three times Percy’s height and five times as long. It had four legs that ended in huge paws with claws that dug into the muddy soil, giving it traction on a slick terrain. It was black with a single white stripe running from its snout of a nose all the way to its two tails. It snarled at Percy, Frank, and Hazel, revealing large white teeth, all honed to a sharp point.

Percy looked back at Frank and Hazel. “Do either of you have weapons?”

Hazel shook her head.

“I usually just fuse with other rubies to be bigger,” Frank said, eyes wide as he stared up at the creature.

If they wanted to get out of here alive, Percy would have to reveal his secret to Frank and Hazel.

The monster opened its mouth, howled, and charged at them.

Percy pulled Frank and Hazel out of the way again, sending them diving into the mud. Before they hit the dirt, he saw a stone on the monster's chest. Black and white, in a round cut. This thing was a gem.

“Hazel, tell me what kind of gem it is.” Percy stood and wiped mud from his eyes.

“Sardonyx… I think,” she said slowly. “It’s strange. There’s something wrong with it.”

“That’s a gem?” Frank said. “I’ve never seen a gem like that before.”

Something rumbled in the sky. Hazel gasped in shock, but the sound gave Percy strength. The monster’s claws sank into the earth, ready to charge again.

“Come on!” Percy shouted at it. He stepped forward, drawing its attention on him, and ran from Frank and Hazel. Maybe he could draw it away, fight in a place they wouldn’t see him. Maybe he could protect his and Annabeth’s secret after all.

The monster came after him, and its size made it way too fast for him to get far. In two bounds it was close enough to snap him up in its teeth. Instead it hit him with its paw, knocking Percy into a tree.

He was lucky his shoulders took the worst of the blow. If it did that again, and hit the wrong spot, his gem could crack.

“Percy!” Hazel shouted.

He got to his feet and waved to let her know he was alright. He saw Frank coming towards him. Percy wanted to tell him no, stay back, but the monster was already stalking towards him, growling as loud as the sky thundered.

“Leave him alone,” Frank said, and punched the monster’s foot. The monster swatted Frank away like he was nothing.

“Frank, no!” Hazel shouted and ran to catch him. They collided, and there was a flash of light.

The monster recoiled from its brilliance. Percy shielded his eyes.

When the light faded, Percy saw neither Frank nor Hazel. The gem before him was tall, orange, with darker stripes running through its form. On their chest were two gems that gleamed like reflective eyes. They seemed to have Frank’s size and strength but with Hazel’s poise.

The gem looked down at their body. “What is this?”

The monster roared and charged the gem, a new fury in its pace.

“No!” Percy shouted and all the rain answered his call. It collected in the monster’s face and threw the monster aside. The monster tumbled and slid through the mud until it hit a tree. Percy saw its exposed belly, white, and with shards of another gem scattered within it.

“What are you?” Percy asked, bewildered. He looked at the new gem that had been Frank and Hazel. “Can you help me?” he asked them.

The gem looked at the strange monster, as if it was seeing something beyond the monster. “I… we can help,” the gem said. “That monster is made of two gems--it’s a fusion, like… like us. Like me.”

“Great. How do we beat it?”

“Separate them.”

Percy knew his form must be rippling with colors, but it didn’t matter now. Frank and Hazel or whatever they were now knew he had a power he’d been hiding. Maybe if he was lucky, Frank and Hazel would unfuse and not remember anything. He’d never seen two different gems fuse into one before. Maybe it would work out in his favor.

Percy charged the beast as it got it its feet, water collecting in each hand. By the time he reached the monster, he had gathered enough to knock it down again and hold it there.

The other gem grabbed the monster’s tails and pulled on them. Percy reached in with enormous hands of hard water and yanked on the monster’s teeth. The monster yelped and dug its claws into the ground but between Percy’s power and the new fusion’s strength its struggle was futile.

The monster burst, leaving behind two gems--a black onyx, whole, and shards of something white.

Frank and Hazel popped apart as well.

Frank put a hand to his head. “What happened?”

Percy reached down and picked up the black gem. “You fused. I don’t know what into.”

“Tiger’s eye,” said Hazel, and looked down at her chest, where her own almandine gem lay. “I didn’t know… I didn’t know we could do that.”

“I didn’t either,” Frank said. “And… Percy… you were controlling the water.”

Percy looked at his hands, rippling with color and power. So he wasn’t lucky enough that they would forget. Maybe he could at least put off explaining.

“Are these gems rebels?” Percy asked. 

Hazel picked up the white shards. “I don’t know. I’ve never met an onyx before.”

“What was that one?” asked Frank.

“Chalcedony,” she said. “A white onyx.”

Frank looked at the black stone, still in Percy’s hand. “Maybe we should break it before it reforms and attacks us again.”

“No,” Percy said. “We’ll wait for it to reform. It was fused with something else before. Maybe cross-gem fusion is dangerous and it’ll return to its normal self alone.” He eyed Frank and Hazel. “So maybe we ought to be more careful.”

“Of course,” Frank said, but Percy could tell he and Hazel looked disappointed.

“There’s a cave just up there,” Hazel said and pointed. “Let’s dry off and see if the gem reforms. If not, we leave it and go on ahead. And maybe we can take time to talk about… everything.”

It was as good a plan as any. Percy desperately wanted a nap, but he assumed Frank and Hazel wouldn’t understand. Gems didn’t need naps or sleep at all. It didn’t stop Percy from wanting it, though.

Percy carried the onyx to the cave and set it down in a patch of damp earth.

“Can you make a fire?” Hazel asked Frank.

Frank shook his head. “I’m not… I’m not a very good ruby.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Percy said. “Anything we could burn would be way too wet.”

Hazel resigned herself to brushing water off of her form by hand and shaking out her hair. She held onto the white shards, afraid to put them too close to the onyx.

Percy sat down at the mouth of the cave and let his hand feel the rain that still poured outside. He watched the water make the colors in his form change as it ran over his body. He’d never known he could do this. He felt like he didn’t know who he was anymore. It made him long to be with Annabeth, the only thing he could hold onto as a surety. The only thing he could trust with all of what he was. She would know what to make of this. She knew everything.

“Percy,” Hazel said slowly. “Did Reyna know what you could do?”

He turned and looked at Hazel and Frank. They were both watching him, and both looked a little scared. He couldn’t blame them.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “I thought only Annabeth knew. I thought it was our secret, but… we both worried that Reyna might have found out somehow. If Reyna found out, and maybe Yellow Diamond…. They could turn on her. They could accuse her of hoarding power or planning an uprising or something. I wasn’t supposed to reveal anything to you guys. I promised Annabeth….” He felt his voice about to break and he stopped himself. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop the quivering ripples of color that ran over his form, like water was still falling over him, even inside this cave.

“We won’t tell,” Frank said. “Honest. We’ll keep it a secret.”

Percy shook his head. “And the minute you fuse with a cohort--”

“I told you, I’m not very good at fusion.” Frank glanced at Hazel when he said this.

Hazel tucked some of her large red curls behind her ear. “We seemed to fuse without thinking about it. We were… something new.”

Before Frank could answer, the black gem burst into light. Percy, Frank, and Hazel watched it take shape, first the basic structure--and Percy was relieved to see it have two legs and two arms, in a normal size--then it solidified into its final stage: a boy, no taller than Percy, made of black and gray with his onyx at his chest. And Percy was startled to find that he recognized him.

The boy looked at them, eyes wide with panic. “Bianca,” he said desperately, looking over them. “Where’s--” He stopped, seemed to realize he was surrounded by three unfamiliar gems, and backed against the wall of the cave. “What do you want?” he asked.

Percy left the mouth of the cave and sat down beside Frank. He motioned for the boy to sit as well.

“We just want to talk,” he said. “You look a lot better than you did a few minutes ago.”

The boy eyed the group suspiciously, then took a seat beside Percy. “Who sent you here?” he asked.

“Reyna,” Hazel answered. “Purple Diamond. We only just arrived from homeworld.”

“My name’s Percy. I’m an aquamarine. That’s Hazel, she’s an almandine. We’re non-threatening, decorative gems, who don’t want any trouble.”

The boy frowned. “What about him?”

“Frank’s our, uh, bodyguard,” Percy said. “Don’t worry about him. He’s harmless.” This seemed to offend Frank, though Percy hadn’t meant it that way. “You’re Nico, aren’t you?”

“How do you know me?” Nico asked.

“I’m from Annabeth’s court. You are too, right? Didn’t she send you and Bianca as her representatives to the colony here?”

Nico squinted at Percy. “You’re White Diamond’s aquamarine? I remember you being more… blue.”

Percy looked down at the pink and yellow stripes running in-between the blue and green. “Yeah, well, this planet’s a little strange, isn’t it?”

Nico looked down at his hands. “Very strange.”

“If you’re here for the colony,” Hazel said, “what are you doing so far from it?”

Nico’s dark eyes flashed with fear and anger as he looked at her. “That’s none of your business. I could ask you three the same question.”

“We’re on a special assignment from Reyna,” Percy said.

“That’s supposed to be a secret,” Frank muttered.

But Percy was trusting by nature of being an aquamarine, and Nico was in Annabeth’s court. To Percy, it was no different than telling Annabeth. “We’ve come to find Jason, her agate. You don’t know where he is, do you?”

Nico frowned. “Is this some sort of trick?”

“Why would I trick you?”

“If I know where the rebels are, I’m working with them, is that it? And if I don’t know, I’m hiding information?”

Percy shook his head. “No one’s accusing you of insurrection. We just need to find Jason. Will you help us?”

Nico drew his knees against his chest. “I don’t…. I don’t think I can help you.”

“That’s alright,” Percy said.

Frank spluttered. “But he’s lying! You’re lying. You know where the rebels are--”

“Nico,” Percy said, “can you tell me what happened to Bianca?”

Nico looked at Frank and Hazel, face fearful. Then he looked at Percy. His lip trembled. “Have you ever… Have you ever fused with someone before?”

“Yes,” Frank and Hazel said at the same time, voices barely a whisper.

Percy shook his head.

“Bianca and I were almost the same,” Nico said. “We were different shades of onyx. But we’d never fused before. It had never seemed right. Then one day, we were fighting them, the rebels, and… it just happened. We were one gem, but not just ourselves. It was strange and… and wonderful. It was like everything I felt for Bianca and everything she felt for me put together into something powerful, bigger than either of us could be alone. The rebels seemed to understand. She laughed and said something like she’d never seen something so wonderful before. But then, a few weeks later, the rebels took Jason. Bianca said we had to get him back, because we had a duty, like we’d lost him because we hadn’t captured the rebels when we’d fused. So we fused to go after him, but Yellow Diamond stopped us. Said we were unnatural. Wanted us both broken and….” Nico tightened his grip on his knees. “We fought but--we were still fused when she broke and I didn’t know what to do. It was so much pain. It hurt--I ran. I’ve been running since and--” He stopped and began sobbing.

Percy put his arm around Nico. “You’re okay now. We’re not going to hurt you. I’ll make sure you get back to Annabeth. She can make it right.”

“She can’t fix Bianca. No one can.”

“Percy,” Hazel said, “why don’t you scout the terrain?”

“Now? But--”

“I would like to talk to Nico, please.”

Nico wiped his cheeks and looked at Hazel. Percy felt strangely protective of Nico, and did not want to abandon him. But there was a regality to Hazel that felt strangely like a diamond. 

“Okay,” he said, and squeezed Nico’s shoulder. “You can trust Hazel. I promise.”

Percy left the three of them to talk and stepped back into the rain. He let the alive feeling run through him, let every ripple pass unhindered through his form. He thought of Annabeth and what he would tell her about this planet, about its amazing life and about the rain. About how the water made him different, made him powerful. About the pulse in this planet. About how here, gems could fuse into someone new. He’d never fused with anyone before. Aquamarines were rare. But now he wondered what it would be like to fuse with Annabeth. What Nico had described, before he and Bianca had been forced apart, sounded incredible. Percy tried to take the feeling he had of standing in the rain and compound and expand it with the trust he and Annabeth shared between each other and he could hardly imagine the feeling. He looked up at the sky and thought he wanted nothing more than to be home with her. No, that wasn’t quite right. He wanted nothing more than to be here with her.


	3. Love Me Like You.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hazel and Frank make a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was struggling with this chapter until I found Ruth B and her music just fits the tone of Steven Universe so much somehow? Idk, but she got me through this chapter and I'm so excited for everything that's coming. Introducing pretty much the rest of the cast!

Hazel trusted Percy instinctively, probably by the nature of his gem. Aquamarines were trusting, and therefore they were unlikely to break any trust you put in them. Even though she hadn’t known him long, he’d fought to save her and Frank. And he’d really fought. He’d risked a secret he shared with White Diamond, a secret that could start a war between the Diamonds, as if the little rebellion on Earth wasn’t enough to deal with already.

But when it came to comforting Nico, Hazel could tell Percy didn’t have what it was going to take. Percy trusted, but he trusted too much. Nico was hurt, and he’d been betrayed by Yellow Diamond. Nico needed someone to be a little wary. 

And if Nico had been betrayed by Yellow Diamond, Nico’s loyalties may not be what they used to be. She didn’t know if Percy would turn on Nico immediately or not.

Finally, she wanted answers about hers and Frank’s fusion. Nico seemed like he’d be the only one with answers, or at least he might know where to get them. It was clear she couldn’t trust homeworld.

So she’d sent Percy away, and she’d been surprised that he listened. 

“It’s Nico, right?” Hazel asked, though she knew. “I’m Hazel, and Frank and I… we fused when we were in the forest. Is that… normal on this planet?”

Nico shook his head. “I don’t know. The rebels had never seen it before. Bianca and I were so surprised, and unable to really maneuver, the rebels could have beat us easily, but they didn’t. She was too impressed.”

“She?”

“Their leader.”

Hazel exchanged a glance with Frank. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing he was--that she didn’t know if she could go back to homeworld after what she and Frank had done. Even Percy had said to be careful. She didn’t want to be careful, which was unusual for her.

Hazel moved her hand closer to Frank and he moved his hand a little closer to hers. They weren’t quite touching. They were both still too scared.

“I can’t imagine,” Frank said, “what it must have been like to break while you were fused.”

Nico put his hand on his chest, on his stone. “I don’t even know if I’m… I think part of me is gone with her. I don’t know if I’ll ever be whole again.”

“You’re going to the rebels, aren’t you?” Frank asked. “You can’t go back to the colony with Yellow Diamond in charge, so you’re going to the rebels.”

Nico’s eyes looked between Frank and Hazel, like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to trust them or not. Hazel didn’t mind if he was honest or not. She and Frank already knew the truth.

“Yes, I am,” Nico finally confessed. He glanced to the mouth of the cave, where Percy had gone. “But if Percy knew that… he might break me. He wouldn’t let anyone go against White Diamond.”

Another reason Hazel had known it would be good to get Percy out of here for a bit. “Let’s make a deal,” she said quickly. “Take us to the rebels. Frank and I can talk to the leader about our fusion. Maybe she’ll know if it’s safe or… or she’ll let us stay if we can’t go home.”

Frank’s fingers found Hazel’s and he squeezed her hand. She knew immediately he was in agreement with her.

“And Percy? The agate you’re after?” Nico asked.

“Let us deal with Percy,” Hazel said. “I know he’s more dangerous than we originally thought, but he was the one who wanted to help you reform when we found you in the forest. I think he may also be kinder than we originally thought.”

Frank and Nico did not look like they agreed with her, but Hazel didn’t mind. She could understand their fears, and probably would have been afraid of Percy too, but she knew her gems. She could trust an aquamarine, as long as they were careful not to test his loyalty to Annabeth.

“The rain’s stopped,” Frank said.

“I hope nothing’s happened to Percy,” Hazel said. She stood and peered out the edge of the cave. She could sense Percy not far off. He seemed to be on his way back.

The planet had turned away from the sun and was in the night part of its cycle. Days seemed short here. Hazel wondered if the planet was safe to move around on at night. She’d heard stories of some planets that had creatures that only came out in the dark.

Percy squeezed between two trees growing very close together and waved at her. She waved back.

“The rain’s stopped,” he called to her as he climbed the hill back to the cave. He was solid blue, without even a stripe of green in him. 

“I noticed,” she called back. “But it’s dark. Should we wait for day?”

“For what?”

“Nico’s promised to take us to the rebels.”

Percy stepped inside the cave and looked at Frank and Nico. “Nico, you know where they are?”

Nico nodded. “I’ll take you to Jason. But you have to promise,” he spoke only to Percy, “if Jason won’t go back with you, you’ll leave without him.”

The faintest stripe of green rippled across Percy’s forehead. “But the rebels--”

“She’ll let him leave if he wants. But if he doesn’t want to… Percy, promise me you won’t force him back to homeworld.”

Hazel knew if Percy did promise, he wouldn’t go back on his word. She knew Nico was trying to force him into a position where he wouldn’t fight them. She felt like he was laying their hand out too early.

“Okay,” Percy said. “If Jason doesn’t want to come back, I won’t force him. I mean, I’m just an aquamarine. What could I do?”

He was grinning as he said it, and Hazel wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved or more worried. Either way, they were in this and they couldn’t back out. She and Frank had nowhere to go. It was back to Reyna, which they couldn’t do without Jason, and meant they wouldn’t be able to fuse again, if Yellow Diamond’s reaction was anything to judge by. But she wanted to know more about fusion and about Frank and the rebels were the only ones she could talk to.

“If we leave now,” Nico said, “we can get there by sunrise.”

Hazel had to think that wasn’t very far, unless the days were somehow shorter than the nights. “Sunrise sounds good. Shall we?”

Frank and Nico stood at the same time. They eyed each other warily, then Nico led the way.

There wasn’t much to see in the dark but shadows, or much for Hazel to sense except the ever-distancing agate colony, but there was plenty to hear. Whatever creatures lived on this earth made plenty of noises at night. So many chirps and croaks even the occasional screeches.

She heard something chirp right at her shoulder and turned to see Frank right beside her, mimicking the animal sounds. He saw her jump and he seemed to turn even redder.

“Sorry. I just wanted to see if I could.”

“No, no, it’s alright. You startled me is all.”

“I just wish I knew what made those sounds.”

“We’ll be out of the trees soon,” Nico said, “and you’ll be able to see a bit better. It’s a full moon tonight.”

“The moon is that bright?” Percy asked in surprise.

As soon as they passed out from the trees onto softer ground and open space, Frank, Hazel, and Percy gasped. The moon clearly illuminated the earth beneath their feet and the wispy grass that rustled in the winds. The sky was clear of the storm, edges of clouds illuminated on the horizon, and the sky was filled with thousands of glittering stars, some familiar, some not.

“That’s homeworld,” Percy said, and pointed upwards.

Hazel looked at Frank, and he looked at her. He reached for her hand, and she took his.

She looked at Percy. He seemed to be thinking very hard about something as he stared up at homeworld.

“Do you hear that?” he asked suddenly. He was scanning the skies, but for what, Hazel didn’t know. The blue and green rippled over his face, betraying a sort of wonder his frown was trying so hard to mask. Then he looked down at his hands and willed the expression to stop.

“I don’t hear anything,” Frank said.

Hazel didn’t hear anything. She wondered what Percy heard. She wondered if they really could trust him. Maybe he was losing his mind. That was really the last thing they needed.

The ground softened the longer they walked and the sky began to turn gray. It wasn’t long before Hazel turned around and saw the edge of the horizon turning pink.

She stopped and watched the sun rise over the Earth. It was unlike anything on homeworld. Homeworld was made of crystals and refractions. Light shimmered when it touched things, and this planet absorbed light like nothing she’d seen before. And yet this sunrise took her breath away. The atmosphere colored it in pinks and golds and the hills they’d crossed looked purple in the shadows. Something welled up inside Hazel’s chest and she turned to find Frank, assuming he’d gone on ahead.

But he was right next to her, watching the sunrise with the same wonder on his face that she felt. They reached for each other and grasped hands, squeezing as tight as they could. This place was amazing. Hazel never wanted to leave.

There was a distant roar behind them. Hazel tore her eyes from the horizon, wondering what could be coming after them now. But she didn’t sense any gems. She and Frank saw Percy run over the crest of the next dune of sand. Nico was already gone. She heard Percy shout, but the roar still sounded distant. Surely it wasn’t just on the other side of the hill.

She and Frank reluctantly left the sunrise and climbed the hill. She couldn’t help but gasp at what she saw.

Water, as far as the eye could see. The roar wasn’t a roar at all, but the crashing of the water onto the sandy shores. It rolled onto the beach and made white foam as it tumbled against itself and was pulled back out to the sea.

Percy’s blue form wasn’t so much rippling as it was shimmering. He stepped into the water and laughed loudly, all intent to hide his feelings abandoned.

He turned to Frank and Hazel, smile wide. “It’s salt!” he shouted at them. “There’s salt in the water!”

Nico was the only one who did not seem overcome by the beauty of the planet the way Hazel, Frank, and Percy were. He stood to the side, hands stuffed in his pockets and he watched Percy run out into the water until he disappeared beneath a wave. He came up, still laughing.

Frank and Hazel stayed at its edge, where the water just licked their feet, Nico just behind them.

“What makes it come in and out like that?” Frank asked. “Why does it move?”

Nico shrugged. “She says it’s the moon. She says all the planets in this system control the rhythms on this planet, and the moon makes the water’s rhythm.”

“What do you mean the planet’s rhythm?” Hazel asked.

Nico glanced at the ground beneath his feet, then up at the pale sky. “She’ll show you. She’s good at that.”

“Is she far?” asked Frank.

“Just around that breakline.” Nico pointed to a line of rocks that jutted out into the ocean, beneath a sudden rise of cliffs. There was a single way onto that beach, through a hole in the cliffs carved by the waves.

Hazel called for Percy to follow them, and he did, though reluctant. He was pure blue, but parts of his hair reflected green as the sunlight grew stronger. Hazel wasn’t sure she’d seen anyone as happy as he looked now. She wondered if he felt everything that strongly. How much of himself did he sacrifice daily to protect Annabeth? What would he do to them when he found out they weren’t going to go back to homeworld?

Frank, as if sensing her thoughts, squeezed her hand and they followed Nico through the cave-like hole in the cliffs.

On the other side was a beach much like the one they had first reached, but the water was much calmer here. It rolled up on the shore lazily, licking at the wooden posts that supported a house. Hazel had never seen a house made of something organic before. As they walked towards it, a flock of birds that had been scuttling in the edge of the water scattered. 

Frank watched them. He mimicked their sound, then suddenly he was no longer holding Hazel’s hand. He was one of those birds. He flew around Hazel’s head once then settled on her shoulder. Then he jumped off and was Frank again, sprawled in the sand.

“How did you do that?” Hazel asked. She helped him to his feet and brushed the sand off of him.

“I don’t know. I wanted to try a different shape and…. it just happened.” He looked dazed and concerned.

“Everything here is different, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded. They looked up at the house on the beach. There was a ladder that led to a porch with a door. As they walked, the door swung open and a boy not much smaller than Nico came out. He was a burnt orange, with short curly hair. He waved at them, and Hazel saw the hematite on his hand reflect in the morning sunlight. He turned and shouted inside.

“Hey! Nico’s back! And he brought friends!”

The door was thrown open a second time, and Hazel recognized Jason. Tall, white like his stone. He looked ready to fight them, and Hazel stopped in her tracks.

“They’re okay, Jason,” Nico said. “They promised they weren’t going to take you away.”

Hazel thought she heard Percy mutter, “That’s not what I promised,” but she couldn’t be sure.

Jason seemed to study her, Frank, and Percy for a moment, like he was deciding whether he should believe Nico or not. Then his face relaxed, and he did something she’d never seen before: He smiled.

“Yeah, well,” he grinned down at Nico and leaned against the porch railing. “I’d like to see them try.”

“Nico, I didn’t know you had friends,” a girl’s voice said, and Hazel held her breath, knowing this must be her, the infamous leader of the rebels.

The door opened a third time and she stepped out onto the porch-balcony. She leaned over the railing beside Jason, one hand on his shoulder and the other hanging off the handrail, like she was beckoning them all towards her.

She was the most beautiful thing Hazel had ever seen, and Hazel had seen a lot of beautiful things in the last few hours. She was blue and green striped, like Percy, but with flecks of white. She reminded Hazel more of the sea foam rolling up on the beach. Hazel searched for her crystal, but she didn’t see one. And as she moved, Hazel got the distinct impression that she wasn’t a light projection like the rest of them. She wasn’t a crystal. Hazel knew her crystals. She was a stone. She was something different, something Hazel had never seen before.

“I’m Piper,” she said, and her voice rolled over them like the waves gently rolled over the sand. There was a music in it that made Hazel want to sit and listen and do nothing else for an eternity. “We’ll be right down. I can’t wait to meet all of you.”


	4. More than Anything I'm Supposed to Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet the gem deserters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sad I made Leo a hematite before we met Bismuth. Leo would totally be a Bismuth. But hematite is a kind of iron and that really appealed to me. It's also about logical thinking, and the Red Ochre version of it (which is what I imagine Leo would have in his gem) is used in art, and I just think of Leo as that logic and creation combined. There are links to everyone's gems at the end with meaning descriptions, since I realized I never posted those.

Leo had, like Piper, been born here on Earth. He’d come out of the ground a bit smaller than he was supposed to be, but he wasn’t cracked or broken or anything. He was just little. “Delicate” was the word one of the other hematites had used to describe him.

Hematites weren’t soldiers; they were craftsmen. They built things, carried things, hammered things, all of that. But Leo always wanted to create things. He wanted to make new things, but that wasn’t his job. He didn’t get to think for himself, he only had to make what he was told.

Then he met Piper. She was different. She wasn’t like the other gems. She, too, had been born on Earth, but she’d been an accident. Leo still didn’t know the details, but no one had ever intended to seed seafoam turquoise. Gems didn’t think of turquoise as valuable. It didn’t produce powerful gems fit for much of anything productive to homeworld. And yet, Piper had been born.

Leo’d seen the place she came out of the earth. It was small for a gem, he figured, but she was still taller than he was. It was smooth, like her, and made of all the same colors. She’d put her hand on the edge of the hole and the stone beneath her hand looked identical to the colors of her skin.

“Does it bother you?” Leo had asked.

She’d tilted her head. “Does what bother me?”

“That you weren’t made for anything.”

She hadn’t answered at first. She’d gotten quiet, and Leo realized that maybe it wasn’t the nicest question to ask. But he’d been made for something, and that bothered him, because he didn’t always fit into what he was made for. Surely she could understand that.

“I’ve observed your gems and your colony,” she’d said, “from afar, I guess.”

“Until you talked to me.”

Piper had laughed. “Yeah, until I talked to you. But you were quite far from your colony yourself, wandering off to… what was it? Sing?”

“I…” Leo faltered. He didn’t know what he’d wandered away to do. He’d found some stuff, and put it together. It made noise, and he liked the noise, but that wasn’t singing. It was….

“No, music,” Piper corrected herself. “You played music. And I sang. It was the first time I’d seen a gem who understood the pulse of this planet the way that humans did.”

“Humans?”

Piper had gestured over a ridge of mountains. “There’s a settlement of humans over there, near the ocean. They build fires and pillars and monuments, and they make music. You feel it, don’t you?” She’d looked up at the stars. “You can hear the song in this system.”

Leo had looked up, and he didn’t know if he heard what Piper heard, but he certainly felt something.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Leo said to her.

“Oh. I did find it odd I wasn’t made for anything. Then I watched humans. They live and create because they are and… I found it beautiful. I don’t have to be anything. I only have to be what I want, and I only have to make what I want. It’s freeing, actually, the ability to choose. Terrifying, but freeing.”

And Leo, after that, had never gone home.

He and Piper had built a house like humans, made of wood and stone, near the ocean. Piper liked the ocean, and Leo didn’t blame her. The ocean looked like her. Like one large giant Piper. He supposed that was how her stone had gotten its name.

Leo had designed their home, and it felt amazing. He’d created something using all his own abilities and desires. It had been perfect. A little lonely, because building with Piper wasn’t at all like building with a small army of hematites, but they’d done it.

Not long after, they’d met Nico and Bianca. A small troop of White Diamond’s gems had discovered their hideout. Piper and Leo had fought bravely. Piper wasn’t a fan of shattering other gems, but she knew how to keep them bubbled, protected, and they wouldn’t be able to reform. Leo had once asked if that hurt them, but Piper had tried to explain sleeping to him. Leo hadn’t gotten it then, but he’d tried it out more recently, and now he understood.

During the fight with that troop, however, Nico and Bianca had fused. It wasn’t all that strange to see two of the same gem fusing, but Nico and Bianca were different shades of onyx, one black and one white. By homeworld rules, onyx and chalcedony didn’t mix. Piper had stopped the fighting to talk to them. She’d let them go back to the colony, though Leo didn’t understand why. But trusting them seemed to be a good idea, because no one bothered them after that.

Not until Piper had met Jason. Leo had been terrified of Jason. Jason was one huge agate, bigger than any of the ones that had stood guard at the colony. Jason was the personal agate of Purple Diamond, and for good reason. His skill in battle was legendary. Leo knew if he so much as ran into Jason, he was as good as broken, since he was a deserter, and none of the diamonds took that lightly.

But Piper had met Jason first. She was walking along the beach when he found her. He asked where her colony was. She pointed to the house. Jason asked her to explain. She’d done so, with a song. Jason had never left.

Now Leo and Jason were inseparable friends. Jason was the best ally Leo could have asked for when it came to building things. He took orders, and he could carry about ten times the weight Leo could. And Jason actually laughed at his jokes. The three of them living in this house of stone and wood had been such an exciting few weeks. 

And now there were three new gems on their doorstep, brought by a very moody and sour looking Nico.

Piper had brought everyone down to the beach. Leo had made a fire near the water--not too close; he’d made that mistake before--and they’d sat around it to hear each other’s stories.

Nico told them how Yellow Diamond had broken Bianca for fusing with him, and had tried to break Nico, but Nico had run. Leo had thought the white stripes in Nico’s arm were new and different, and now he understood.

Hazel explained hers and Frank’s situation.

“We were sent by Purple Diamond,” she said, “but Jason… if you don’t want to go home, we won’t make you.”

“Can’t make you,” Frank mumbled.

“And,” Hazel bit down on her lip, “Frank and I fused. I’m afraid we can’t go back.”

“Not unless you want to be broken,” Nico said.

“Could I see?” Piper asked. “I’ve never seen two entirely different gems fuse before. I didn’t know it was possible.”

Frank and Hazel cautiously held hands, but nothing happened.

“Er--I don’t know… how we did it,” Hazel said. “We just sort of… did.”

“We can try it later,” Piper said. Her eyes were full of a wonder Leo only saw on Piper’s face when she looked at the stars and the ocean, or more recently, when she looked at Jason.

Now Piper turned to Percy. “You haven’t said a word.”

Leo took a long look at Percy. He seemed like your traditional aquamarine. Nice and blue with touches of green. Aquamarines were also known to be trusting, so the fact that he was here among rebels without protest seemed reasonable. But it was odd to send an aquamarine on a mission to a colony. At least Hazel said she had a unique ability to track gems. Why was this aquamarine here?

Percy only shrugged his shoulders. “Hazel said just about everything.”

“Percy is like me,” Nico said.

“I’m not--”

“We’re both Annabeth’s.”

Percy bit down on his lower lip and glared down at the sand. Leo couldn’t figure him out. Why was he so on edge? If Leo didn’t know better, he’d think Percy was someone to be scared of. But he figured Percy was just some lost decoration. Maybe he just wanted to go home. It was odd that Leo couldn’t see Percy’s gem, but Jason’s was on the back of his neck, so maybe Percy’s was somewhere similar.

Piper hummed--not a song, just a single thoughtful note--and looked up at the stars. “What is homeworld like?”

Everyone followed her gaze, even Leo, who really didn’t know where homeworld was, other than “up.”

“The palaces are beautiful,” Hazel said. “Everything glitters. There are tall spires, and they’re shaped like these.” Hazel pulled a twisted seashell out of the sand. She picked up a few more and started to build a miniature palace in the sand.

Jason picked up an empty mollusk shell. “There are paths through crystal gardens in this color, too,” he pointed at the iridescent inside of the shell. Hazel took it and pressed it into the sand.

“The barracks,” Frank said, “are over here.” He picked a small pile of sand to the left of the Hazel’s castle and started to square it out. “They’re made of granite. They’re plain, cold during the dark and hot during the day. They’re high enough, too, to shield some of the starlight from the castle.”

Leo was surprised. He supposed it made sense. The hierarchy on earth must reflect a hierarchy on homeworld. Leo had just assumed that anyone from homeworld had the good life, and earth gems were lesser gems. But if even earth gems looked down on him for his size, surely homeworld gems could dislike other homeworld gems.

“Do you make music on homeworld?” Piper asked. “Jason said he’s never heard of it.”

Hazel and Frank exchanged a glance, then shook their head.

Percy frowned at Piper. “What’s music?”

“I’ll show you,” she said.

Jason smiled and winked at the homeworld gems as if to say, “This is going to be good, watch.”

Piper opened her mouth and began to sing. It wasn’t any sort of words, at least not that Leo could interpret, but it was full of all the feeling Piper’s songs were usually full of. He pulled a small hammer from the gem in his hand and began tapping a rhythm on one of the seashells. Jason looked down at Piper, face as awed as hers, and began to hum a melody with her.

Leo watched Hazel as she began to tap her foot along with his rhythm. He grinned at her. She blushed.

Then she took Frank’s hand and together they stood. She pulled him along in a sort of swaying motion. Leo didn’t know where she’d learned to move like that, but Frank picked it up pretty quickly. It made Leo feel a little lost and alone to watch them. He didn’t know why, but he imagined what he was feeling now was how Jason felt when he looked at the stars.

Leo tore his eyes away from Hazel to watch Piper. She was smiling, eyes wide as she watched Frank and Hazel. She stopped singing to laugh and pulled Jason to his feet. Leo kept tapping, providing a rhythm for them to to move to, but he felt like he was running out of places to look. He tried to catch Nico or Percy’s eye, hoping for maybe sympathy or an understanding grin. But Nico was staring steadily into the fire, and Percy was watching Piper and Jason like he’d never seen anything stranger.

Then there was suddenly two bright white lights, illuminating the entire beach and drowning out the light from the fire. Leo looked at Hazel, but Hazel wasn’t there, at least not in the same way. It was an orange and brown stone, tall and clearly strong. Hazel and Frank had fused.

Leo turned to look for Piper’s reaction, but Piper was gone too. In her place stood an incredibly tall gem, a deep rich blue, with splashes of a milky white across it, like galaxies in a night sky. He was stunned by the beauty of it. It was neither Jason nor Piper, not agate nor turquoise.

“Piper….” he said, not sure what to think of this. 

Piper and Jason--they--their fusion--looked down and laughed. Their voice was as musical as Piper’s but as clear and soft as Jason’s.

“What is it?” Leo asked. “Er--I mean, what are you? Or--”

“Sodalite,” Percy said.

Leo turned to Percy, but found Percy’s expression entirely unreadable. Nico was openly shocked, but Percy seemed to be angry? Frustrated? In pain? Or was he just thinking very hard? Leo couldn’t tell. That bothered him. Aquamarines were supposed to be trusting, but Leo wasn’t too sure he trusted Percy after all.

“You’re beautiful,” Piper-and-Jason said in a gentle whisper. “This is wonderful. This is--This is more than anything I’ve ever dreamed of.”

Frank-and-Hazel only nodded in agreement with a small smile. They seemed to be a culmination of all their strength, but also all their shyness. 

Piper-and-Jason turned to look at the sky. They wrapped their arms around their waist and sighed. “It’s like being home, but… more.”

Percy stood suddenly and walked away from the fire. He walked all the way to the cliffs and slipped away through the crevice he, Hazel, and Frank had arrived through.

“We should stop him,” Frank-and-Hazel said, but Piper-and-Jason took their hand.

“Let him go. He’ll be alright.”

Leo wondered how Piper-and-Jason could know that. He made a note to himself that if the homeworld military came knocking on their door again, he was going to give both Piper and Jason a very loud, “I told you so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Percy, Aquamarine](http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/kids/photos/articles/Science/A-G/aquamarine-raw.jpg.adapt.945.1.jpg): a gem about cleansing, truth, trust, letting go, and fearless protection. [It's a kind of Beryl](http://67.media.tumblr.com/b49f8b997140c1287be2fc2aa28a6d19/tumblr_mmaai2oz3W1qc9f5po1_1280.jpg) that comes in a lot of different colors like Hazel said. Basically I just wanted Percy to be a blue gem, but also [a fluid gem.](http://www.gia.edu/images/80920_1355958302920.jpg)  
> [Annabeth and Reyna, white and purple diamonds](https://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/server4300/9b8niz/products/6440/images/9632/purple_diamond_7_stone_anniversary_ring__39514.1424575752.220.290.jpg?c=2): traditionally diamonds are about augmenting other stones, and are the hardest known substance on earth.  
> [Hazel, Almandine:](http://www.gemstonemagnetism.com/uploads/Almandine_trio_2.jpg) a type of garnet about protection and about perception of truth.  
> [Frank, Ruby: ](http://www.ringswithlove.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/1-natural-untreated-ruby-U3284.jpg)passion, protection, and prosperity  
> [Nico & Bianca, Onyx and Chalcedony:](http://3.imimg.com/data3/QG/HI/MY-2521885/onyx-chalcedony-500x500.jpg) They're the basically the same gem, but different shades. It's a good stone for releasing sorrow or grief.  
> [Leo, Hematite:](http://c8.alamy.com/comp/C580KA/hematite-red-ochre-italy-important-ore-of-iron-C580KA.jpg) This is the Red Ochre variety of hematite, known as a Blood Stone or Iron Rose. Used for organizing logical thought.  
> [Piper, Seafoam Turquoise](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/d8/a4/4a/d8a44a883eb27a56d3227a365d01a90c.jpg): I think turquoise was an obvious choice for Piper, because I've always loved her American Indian Heritage. I like setting it up against the Greek mythology, and in this case it will be Earth against Homeworld with her leading the charge. It's a stone of healing and friendship.  
> [Jason, Agate: ](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TnNY-2PsuhQ/UMWjb5j0CcI/AAAAAAAABFM/jR6kHwJbWw8/s1600/whiteagate.jpg)Agate comes in a variety of colors, and is really chalcedony but banded. ("Crazy Lace" is a gem Bismuth mentions that is also an agate & therefore a striped chalcedony.) I chose a colors agate for Jason because I wanted him to be blank--he takes orders, he does his job. But he's striped, layered, and even he can't discern his innermost emotions sometimes. Agates are used for strength and harmony.  
>  Fusions:  
> [Tiger's Eye,](http://www.gemselect.com/other-info/graphics/tigers-eye-gem_2_large.jpg) a fusion of Alamandine and Ruby (Frank and Hazel). A gem about all-seeing or all-knowing. I'm lucky enough to have one of these, and when I saw it I just knew it had to be Frank and Hazel's gem.  
> [Sodalite ](http://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/images/xsodalite-3.jpg.pagespeed.ic.GYUANSc8IV.jpg)is a stone about truth and idealism, and is often called "The Poet's Stone." Besides that description, I couldn't think of anything more beautiful for a fusion of white agate and turquoise, or for Jason and Piper.


End file.
